God

The sky began to pale with the white of a fish's belly as daylight rose from the distant horizon, gradually replacing the night.

The temperature was growing cooler.

Outside Anchorage Base.

A force of seventeen M1A2 main battle tanks stood in formation in the square, their barrels adjusted toward the base's outer wall.

In the sky, armed helicopters such as Apaches, Cobras, and Little Ponies churned the air, their missiles and cannon fire ready.

Against the black-and-white gradient sky, a formation of F-22 Raptor fighter jets streaked through the heavens, their AIM-9X Sidewinder Missiles locked onto Anchorage Base.

General Augustine arrived at the scene. From within the base came the dull blasts of Gipsy Danger's plasma cannon. As expected, the plasma cannon that could kill monsters head-on had no effect on that alien.

"Lock onto him!"

General Augustine's face was grim and shadowed as a dark feeling flashed through his heart. He issued the order from the command vehicle.

The Sea-Based X-Band Radar had been designed to track and distinguish small objects in space. It was especially adept at missile defense, detection, and target tracking. It could spot an object the size of a baseball thousands of kilometers away and distinguish real missile warheads from decoys.

He-El's utterly undisguised power was even more violent than a missile's. He was immediately detected by the radar, which had been slightly modified to distinguish targets, and his position was pinpointed perfectly even though he was only a few meters above the ground.

"Concentrated fire. Destroy him. Fire."

General Augustine gave the order.

The M1A2 main battle tanks that had already turned their barrels, the missiles and cannons of the Apaches, Cobras, and Little Ponies, and the AIM-9X Sidewinder Missiles of the F-22 Raptor fighter formation all locked onto He-El through the wall.

With no regard for Anchorage's civilians, the tank force fired a mix of armor-piercing shells, HEAT rounds, and gun-launched missiles. They were the first to punch through Anchorage's outer wall, tearing open a breach and firing precisely at He-El.

The armed helicopters—Apaches, Cobras, Little Ponies, and the like—launched AGM-114 Hellfire anti-tank missiles: laser-guided AGM-114Ls and millimeter-wave-guided AGM-114Rs. These missiles, with a range of up to eight kilometers and speeds of Mach 2, tore through Anchorage Base's outer wall at the same time and shot toward He-El.

Farther away, the nearly three-meter-long AIM-9X Sidewinder Missiles and others from the same series detached from the F-22 Raptor fighter formation in unison. Trailing long flames, they descended from the sky and plunged into Anchorage Base.

A massive explosion instantly erupted in Anchorage Base. One corner of the towering dome was blown away, steel supports flew everywhere, and thick black smoke rose wrapped in flames.

The civilians wailed in terror, covering their ears and screaming in panic. The deafening explosions sent the humans near He-El flying; they crashed into steel supports, their bones shattered, and died.

Those farther away had their eardrums ruptured, blood flowing from all seven orifices. In utter misery, they began fleeing toward the entrance.

Shells exploded continuously around He-El. To his body, they felt no more than a normal person lightly slapping themselves with a palm. It did not count as pain. It did not bother him in the slightest.

But it was incredibly annoying, like someone blasting a Loudspeaker beside your ear every so often, the sound waves sometimes loud and sometimes soft. It caused no damage, but the harassment was immense.

Especially since his hearing was so good. That made it even more irritating.

Within the flames and black smoke, two striking red lights began to shine like evil eyes in an abyss.

He-El's tall figure, fair skin, and crimson eyes beneath his black hair made him look incomparably sinister. In an instant, he broke the sound barrier and appeared above the square, his burning gaze falling upon the tanks.

The tank barrels, helicopter cannon muzzles, and fighter jets' missiles all began making minute adjustments, aiming at He-El in the air above the square. The second barrage of concentrated fire was about to erupt.

Heat Vision shot from He-El's blazing pupils. Starting with a tank on the left, its armor was instantly melted into molten iron by the Heat Vision, sending up scorched smoke. The soldiers inside did not even have time to scream before they were melted into two halves. The entire tank was sliced in half by the Heat Vision, molten red iron dripping from the cut as it exploded. Even its cannon barrel was blasted away and embedded in the base's outer wall.

He-El turned his head slightly. The second tank met the same fate. Then the third... the fourth... the fifth... the sixth... the seventh...

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

With one glance of Heat Vision, He-El had gauged the M1A2 main battle tanks' toughness. Beginning with the second tank, he made a slight adjustment to the Heat Vision's intensity and cutting power. With a small sweep of his head, six tanks in succession were sliced cleanly in half, tanks and men alike split into two. Straight, lava-scorched trails were left across the ground.

It was far too fast. The tanks and their crews were gone before they could react.

Inside the command vehicle, General Augustine's hand trembled. These were the Army's main battle tanks... and they were gone with a turn of his head...

The tanks melted too quickly. Augustine felt like he could barely breathe.

This alien was too inhuman.

As someone who deeply understood how terrifying the military's combat equipment was, he now understood He-El's combat power even more profoundly.

Then three three-meter-long Sidewinder Missiles shot directly at He-El's chest in succession. Augustine's heart could not help but skip a beat. Maybe they would work.

The Sea-Based X-Band Radar and the Sidewinder Missiles coordinated with perfect precision, concentrating their fire on a single point. What tank or fighter jet could withstand such an accurate strike?

Yet when Augustine saw two blazing red beams of Heat Vision continue to shoot toward the tank force on the ground from within the thick smoke and flames unleashed by the three Sidewinder Missiles, he felt as if his heart had stopped beating. A sense of Despair rose within him.

How were they supposed to fight this? Even fighter jets were not as fierce as him. He could stand still and let missiles hit him without losing a single hair.

Within the black smoke and flames, his eyes glowed crimson, evil as a demon's.

"General, get out of here!" The colonel inside the command vehicle cried out in terror, his face changing drastically. He watched the remaining ten M1A2 main battle tanks twist and turn, their tracks racing as they tried to flee, yet unable to escape those two beams of Heat Vision. One after another, they were sliced in half and exploded. Not one survived.

Fear gripped him.

General Augustine suddenly snapped out of his Despair and felt the temperature rise sharply. Before he could react, two beams of Heat Vision shot straight through the concealed command vehicle, slicing both the vehicle and its occupants in half. Molten iron dripped down before the vehicle exploded.

He-El withdrew his Heat Vision. The veins bulging around his eyes gradually subsided. The tank force had been completely annihilated, and the paths carved through the ground by his Heat Vision were horrifying to behold, giving off the scorched, blackened stench of lava.

He looked toward the armed helicopters. They immediately tilted as they tried to flee. He-El accelerated, bursting through a ring of sonic-boom clouds where he stood, and flew beside them. One slap each sent them crashing into the square, their tilted rotors spinning wildly as they fell, exploded, and burned in blazing black smoke.

The Raptor fighter jets soaring through the sky were also about to fly away. He-El turned his head, his eyes glowing red again, and fired six concentrated beams of Heat Vision into the sky. They struck the Raptor fighter jets' flight paths with flawless precision, exploding into six fireballs in the heavens.

At that very moment, a ray of light shone from the distant horizon and fell upon He-El's body. The warm sunlight made his cells feel as comfortable as a thirsty person drinking warm water.

Unable to help himself, He-El smiled and spread his arms, accepting the sunlight. His body seemed haloed in light in the sky, his skin gleaming as though he were a god.

The people fleeing from the base saw this scene and could not help but freeze.